COPPERAS COVE (October 16, 2012)—The death of a man whose body was found Monday near a burning SUV in a city park has been ruled a suicide.
Justice of the Peace John Guinn made the ruling Tuesday afternoon after he received a preliminary autopsy report that showed the cause of death was a close contact shotgun wound to the head.
Police recovered a shotgun from the area where the body was found.
The victim, a 22-year-old man whose identity has not been released pending notification of his next of kin, was not burned in the fire.
Investigators believe the burned out SUV belonged to the victim.
Police and fire were alerted to the fire after a police officer noticed the smoke and went out to investigate.
Guinn was called to the scene at about 4 p.m., pronounced the man dead and ordered his body taken to the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas for autopsy.
The Chevrolet SUV was discovered in a wooded area off a dirt road inside the park, just off U.S. Highway 190 in the western part of the city.
